For a soldier at war, access to one's
nearest and dearest usually means maddeningly slow mail or brief long-distance
phone conversations. Those servicemen and women closest at hand become
the most reliable daily source of camaraderie and comfort. Swapping
a good joke, commiserating over grub, sharing letters and goodies from
home, crying over loneliness and lost loves, and saving each other
from
on- and off-duty treacheries are among the memories that war buddies
evoke.
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"We had a fine group of men...focused..on proving that
colored troops were no different than white troops."
Facing enemies as insidious as those attacking
his country, Walter
Morris deftly turned every disadvantage
into a plus in his World War II-era experiences. He was
turned out of Officer Candidate School and assigned to
head a service unit of African American soldiers, whom
he transformed into the army’s first all-black
battalion of paratroopers. Morris eventually got his
stripes, earning the respect of both his men and his
white superior officers, who admired his tenacity in
the face of obstacles that had defeated many other soldiers
before him.
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Walter Morris' story |
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"We
few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds
his blood with me shall be my brother." --
William Shakespeare
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